Vigilante Racism: The De-Americanization of Immigrant America

Sadly, the de-Americanization process is capable of reinventing itself generation after generation. We have seen this exclusionary process aimed at those of Jewish, Asian, Mexican, Haitian, and other descent throughout the nation\u27s history. De-Americanization is not simply xenophobia, because more than fear of foreigners is at work. This is a brand of nativism cloaked in a Euro-centric sense of America that combines hate and racial profiling. Whenever we go through a period of de-Americanization like what is currently happening to South Asians, Arabs, Muslim Americans, and people like Wen Ho Lee-a whole new generation of Americans sees that exclusion and hate is acceptable; that the definition of who is an American can be narrow; that they too have license to profile. Their license is issued when others around them engage in hate and the government chimes in with its own profiling. This is part of the sad process of unconscious and institutionalized racism that haunts our country

Legal Services Support Centers and Rebellious Advocacy: A Case Study of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center

The purpose of this Essay is to provide a description and analysis of the ILRC’s work, with particular focus on its civic participation projects. While I provide a brief review of many ILRC programs, this Essay more fully describes ILRC’s work to build capacity among immigrants and refugees and the organizations that serve them to enhance the engagement and influence of newcomers in American civic life. That work includes work with immigrant service organizations to develop and implement grassroots campaigns to improve immigration laws, and the development and promotion of new models of service that transfer knowledge, skills and power to immigrants. By focusing on civic participation examples, the Essay describes projects that exemplify the program’s social change lawyering as it attempts to facilitate democratic participation by immigrants. In the process, methods are described in which ILRC staff attorneys go about doing this work in a rebellious, collaborative manner that simultaneously seeks to de-marginalize the individuals and groups with which they work. Thus, the aim of the Essay is to provide an insight into how the organization has gone about doing its business in this area, in hopes of gleaning lessons and approaches that other legal services and law school clinical programs can find useful

Bay Area Resistance to Trump’s Anti-Immigrant War

From the Muslim ban to the assault on sanctuary cities, to the repeal of DACA, the Trump administration’s policies on immigration may be the worst in a generation. Bill Ong Hing outlines the long history of anti-immigration policies from past administrations. In the Bay Area, immigration service providers have continued their work to protect immigrants and their families

Refugee Policy and Cultural Identity: In the Voice of Hmong and Iu Mien Young Adults

U.S. refugee admission and resettlement policies have helped to shape the cultural identities of refugees in America in unanticipated ways. In this article, the author examines the effects of these policies on the young adult members of two small Laotian refugee groups-the Hmong and the Iu Mien. After reviewing the ad hoc admission and resettlement programs of the federal government, the author reviews a collection of interviews of young college students and discovers a range of attitudes on identity, mainstream culture, religion, and the desire to maintain ethnic culture. The cultural identity being developed by Ju Mien and Hmong young adults is based on their experience as the children of refugees, most of whom were on public assistance. They may identify with other Asian Americans with whom they interact, but without that interaction race alone may not be a sufficient marker to bridge a common identity with Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. In the process of cultural identity formation, some are choosing to incorporate aspects of their culture out of respect for and in tribute to their elders and centuries of tradition, but on their own terms. For them, the development of cultural identity is a statement of individualism. Theirs is a statement of dissent and independence from mainstream culture, Asian American culture dominated by Chinese American and Japanese American life, and their own parents\u27 cultures

Entering the Trump Ice Age: Contextualizing the New Immigration Enforcement Regime

During the early stages of the Trump ICE age, America seemed to be witnessing and experiencing an unparalleled era of immigration enforcement. But is it unparalleled? Did we not label Barack Obama the “deporter-inchief?” Was it not George W. Bush who used the authority of the Patriot Act to round up nonimmigrants from Muslim and Arab countries, and did his ICE not commonly engage in armed raids at factories and other worksites? Are there not strong parallels that can be drawn between Trump enforcement plans and actions and those of other eras? What about the fear and hysteria that seems to really be happening in immigrant communities? Is the fear unparalleled? Why is there so much fear? Is the fear justified? Why do things seem different, in spite of rigorous immigration enforcement that has occurred even in recent years? This Article begins with a comparison of what the Trump Administration has done in terms of immigration enforcement with the enforcement efforts of other administrations. The Author then turns to the fear and hysteria in immigrant communities that has spread throughout the country. The Author asks why that fear has occurred and whether the fear has a reasonable basis. The Author closes with a personal reflection on the parallels the Author has seen and experienced since beginning to practice immigration law as a legal services attorney in 1975 and contemplates why enforcement and the resulting fear are different today

Estoppel in Immigration Proceedings - New Life from Akbarin and Miranda

This Article examines the effects of Akbarin v. INS and Miranda v. INS on estoppel as a concept to be applied in immigration proceedings. The author examines the use of estoppel prior to these two cases, and analyzes these cases against the backdrop of the prior case law. The author then examines the potential effects that the Akbarin and Miranda cases will have on estoppel claims. The author suggests that estoppel remains a viable tool against the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and outlines strategic considerations in bringing an estoppel action on behalf of an alien

Ethics, Morality, and Disruption of U.S. Immigration Laws

This is the published version